antiphile
30th September 2012, 06:55 PM
When it comes to finishing smaller items (smaller than furnture), I just love the old style waxes. The look, the wonderful smell, even the feel is nice.Even if I use danish or tung oil, when its fully set, I still usually put some carnauba wax and buff it using a cotton mop on the lathe. And I thought I was pretty competent at doing it too.
Yesterday, I was polishing a very small box with some brass feet on it, and since I didn't want it to catch and get flung across the garage, I was protecting the brass with my fingers and only barely touching the surface on the polishing mop. I have sensitive pinkies and didn't want to burn them! :weeping2:
When finished, it looked a waaay better shine an finish than I normally get. Now, normally I use a pretty light touch using the mop, but this one really impressed. Today, I experimented a bit and I'm really proud to present my results.
The lighter the pressure, the better the shine. Even going to a "microscopically" light pressure, the finish keeps getting dramatically and lustrously better. I got to the point when I couldn't even feel any feedback through my fingers from the mop -- and you guessed it, that was the best result of all!
I was only using the Gilly Stephenson's Carnauba Wax (and the same brand of Cabinet Maker's Wax) from Bunnings, so this is far from scientific evidence. But I was stunned by the improvement over my normal technique. Now I'm going to have hit Ubeaut for a swansdown mop and some higher quality waxes to see how much better it can get.
PS. I'm not sure if I dreamed it or read it, but I thought carnauba was a friction polish, so I had always used just enough pressure to generate a little heat, but I think I'll be ignoring that now.
Cheers
Phil
Yesterday, I was polishing a very small box with some brass feet on it, and since I didn't want it to catch and get flung across the garage, I was protecting the brass with my fingers and only barely touching the surface on the polishing mop. I have sensitive pinkies and didn't want to burn them! :weeping2:
When finished, it looked a waaay better shine an finish than I normally get. Now, normally I use a pretty light touch using the mop, but this one really impressed. Today, I experimented a bit and I'm really proud to present my results.
The lighter the pressure, the better the shine. Even going to a "microscopically" light pressure, the finish keeps getting dramatically and lustrously better. I got to the point when I couldn't even feel any feedback through my fingers from the mop -- and you guessed it, that was the best result of all!
I was only using the Gilly Stephenson's Carnauba Wax (and the same brand of Cabinet Maker's Wax) from Bunnings, so this is far from scientific evidence. But I was stunned by the improvement over my normal technique. Now I'm going to have hit Ubeaut for a swansdown mop and some higher quality waxes to see how much better it can get.
PS. I'm not sure if I dreamed it or read it, but I thought carnauba was a friction polish, so I had always used just enough pressure to generate a little heat, but I think I'll be ignoring that now.
Cheers
Phil